A STALK ON SCARBA 253 



our best pace down into the valley and up the other side brought 

 us, very short of breath, to the top of the hill. Concealed 

 behind a rock we looked for the goat, and soon found him 

 standing on a rocky ledge overlooking the sea. A little more 

 mano3uvring took us within shooting distance, and a bullet 

 ended the stalk. As we got nearer the odour became stronger 

 and stronger, and at last almost overpowering. Indeed, he was 

 most highly scented, but a fine trophy, the horns measuring 

 23 inches in length and 7 round the base. His brown and 

 white coat was very long, some of the hair 18 inches in 

 length. The stalker carried the head home at the end of a 

 long stick, and I walked not behind as usual, but in front of 

 him. Thus ended one of the most enjoyable and successful 

 stalks of stag and goat on one of the most lovely days I have 

 ever seen. 



Ever before us had been the whirlpool of Corryvreachkan, 

 swirling in circling eddies between our island and Jura, now 

 calm in waltzing currents merely, but a terrible place when 

 heavy Atlantic sea meets the tide in so narrow and rocky a 

 a passage. In the statistical account of Argyllshire the follow- 

 ing legend about this whirlpool is handed down : 



" According to a tradition still believed in the Hebrides, 

 Corryvreachkan, or the cauldron of Breachkan, received its 

 name from a Scandinavian prince, who, during a visit to Scot- 

 land, became enamoured of a princess of the Isles and sought 

 her for his bride. Her wily father, dreading the consequences 

 of the connection, but fearful to oifend the King of Lochlin, 

 gave his consent to their marriage on condition that Breachkan 

 should prove his skill and prowess by anchoring his bark for 

 three days and three nights in the whirlpool. Too fond or too 

 proud to shrink from the danger, he proceeded to Lochlin to 

 make preparation for the enterprise. Having consulted the 

 sages of his native land, he was directed to provide himself 

 with three cables, one of hemp, one of wool, and one of women's 

 hair. The first two were easily procured, and the beauty of 

 his person, his renown as a warrior, and the courtesy of his 

 manners had so endeared him to the damsels of his country, 

 that they cut off their hair to make the third, on which his 

 safety was ultimately to depend ; for the purity of female in- 

 nocence gave it power to resist even the force of the waves. 



